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Female Labor Force Participation in Latin America: Evidence of Deceleration

Author

Listed:
  • Leonardo Gasparini

    (CEDLAS-UNLP and CONICET)

  • Mariana Marchionni

    (CEDLAS-UNLP and CONICET)

  • Nicolás Badaracco

    (CEDLAS-UNLP)

  • Joaquín Serrano

    (CEDLAS-UNLP and CONICET)

Abstract

This paper documents changes in female labor force participation (LFP) in Latin America exploiting a large database of microdata from household surveys of 15 countries in the period 1992-2012. We find evidence for a significant deceleration in the rate of increase of female LFP in the 2000s, breaking the marked increasing pattern that characterized the region for at least 50 years. The paper documents and characterizes this fact and examines various factors that could be driving the deceleration. Through a set of simple decompositions the paper helps to disentangle whether the patterns in female LFP are mainly accounted for by changes in the distribution of some direct determinants of the labor supply decision (e.g. education), or instead they are chiefly the consequence of some more profound transformation in behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Leonardo Gasparini & Mariana Marchionni & Nicolás Badaracco & Joaquín Serrano, 2015. "Female Labor Force Participation in Latin America: Evidence of Deceleration," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0181, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
    • Handle: RePEc:dls:wpaper:0181
    as

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    File URL: http://cedlas.econo.unlp.edu.ar/archivos_upload/doc_cedlas181.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ximena Pena & Raquel Bernal & Diego Amador, 2013. "The rise in female participation in Colombia: Fertility, marital status or education?," Revista ESPE - Ensayos Sobre Política Económica, Banco de la República, vol. 31(71), pages 54-63, June.
    2. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn, 2013. "Female Labor Supply: Why Is the United States Falling Behind?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(3), pages 251-256, May.
    3. Goldin, Claudia, 2006. "The Quiet Revolution That Transformed Women’s Employment, Education, and Family," Scholarly Articles 2943933, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    4. Espino, Alma, 2005. "Un marco de análisis para el fomento de las políticas de desarrollo productivo con enfoque de género," Asuntos de Género 5798, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    5. Claudia Goldin, 2006. "The Quiet Revolution That Transformed Women's Employment, Education, and Family," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 1-21, May.
    6. Claudia Goldin, 2014. "A Grand Gender Convergence: Its Last Chapter," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(4), pages 1091-1119, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Female Labor Force Participation in Latin America: Evidence of Deceleration
      by maximorossi in NEP-LTV blog on 2015-06-10 17:43:12

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Mariana Viollaz & Mauricio Salazar-Saenz & Luca Flabbim & Monserrat Bustelo & Mariano Bosch, 2022. "The COVID-19 Pandemic in Latin American and Caribbean countries: The Labor Supply Impact by Gender," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0296, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
    2. Gasparini, Leonardo & Arcidiácono, Malena & Carella, Laura & Puig, Jorge & Gluzmann, Pablo & Brassiolo, Pablo, 2015. "El empleo público en América Latina. Evidencia de las encuestas de hogares," El Trimestre Económico, Fondo de Cultura Económica, vol. 0(328), pages .749-784, octubre-d.
    3. Serrano, Joaquín & Gasparini, Leonardo & Marchionni, Mariana & Glüzmann, Pablo, 2019. "Economic cycle and deceleration of female labor force participation in Latin America," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 53(1), pages 1-13.
    4. Rita K. Almeida & Mariana Viollaz, 2023. "Women in paid employment: a role for public policies and social norms in Guatemala," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(3), pages 252-279, July.
    5. Galperin, Hernan & Arcidiacono, Malena, 2021. "Employment and the gender digital divide in Latin America: A decomposition analysis," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(7).
    6. Javier Alejo & Victor Funes, 2019. "Ecuaciones Salariales de Parejas bajo Selección Muestral Bivariada. Una Aplicación al Caso Argentino," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0246, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J2 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor
    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics

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